Warburg Pincus closes China fund at $2b hard cap

For LPs that are investors in the global fund, it represents an opportunity to double down on their China exposure, with a combined $4 billion expected to be deployed in the country. However, there are also new investors in an LP base that includes public and private pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, endowments, foundations and high net worth individuals.

The private equity firm closed its latest global fund - Warburg Pincus Private Equity XII - at $13.4 billion in November 2015, comprising $12 billion in institutional commitments plus a GP contribution. It invests in companies at all stage of development across a variety of sectors such as energy, financial services, healthcare and consumer, industrial and business services, and technology, media and telecom (TMT).

In China specifically, the firm describes its approach as partnering with entrepreneurs and management teams to build companies of sustainable value. The portfolio has a strong emphasis on the fast-growing and interconnected areas of internet-enabled services, transportation and logistics. Current investments include online job site Liepin, used car trading platform Uxin, chauffeured car service provider Ucar, industrial parks operator D&J China, and logistics companies ANE Logistics and ZTO Express. The latter went public in the US in October.

Among Warburg Pincus' recent investments are a data center joint venture with 21Vianet, bike rental service start-up Mobike, maternity and childcare hospital chain UIB, and a re-up in service apartment operator Mofang Gongyu. It has also secured full or partial exits in the last year from car rental provider CAR, lifestyle services platform 58.com, and biopharmaceutical company China Biologic Products.

"We attribute our persistent record to identifying growth themes and partnering with talented management teams. We will continue to invest behind long-term secular trends such as consumption, urbanization, mobile technology, healthcare, and the ongoing evolution of the financial sector. This new China fund provides us with additional capital to continue to back high-growth Chinese businesses," Frank Wei, the firm's managing director and co-head of China, said in a statement.

Warburg Pincus made its first investment in China in 1994 and has since committed over $7 billion to 90 companies. The firm has more than $40 billion in private equity assets under management globally.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Greater China
• Fundraising
• GPs
• Growth
• China
• Warburg Pincus Asia